Because we all want to write more poems.
Shelved
We still hold onto a Bible,
Though we no longer believe,
And we store scraps, carefully torn
From the newspaper to which we no longer subscribe.
Obituaries of relatives and friends
Who are no longer in our lives.
We keep the Bible in a bookshelf
Among other books we no longer read,
And we no longer need to remember
The lives we placed
Between those pages.
- Neil McKay's Shared Poems
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Comments
Clayton Medeiros
June 5, 2012
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Perhaps. I am always
Perhaps. I am always intrigued by Einstein's idea that all times are right now. Although Fitzgerald talked about there being no second acts, there are endless second, third, etc. acts. I suspect there are corollary poems to this one. Maybe a series about memory and books.
Neil McKay
June 5, 2012
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I guess the thought behind
I guess the thought behind the poem was that we (some of us) have these tangible rituals like tearing the obituary out of the paper and storing them in an old bible. My obits are in the Marian Bible that I think belonged to my grandma. I do this almost mechanically, like emptying the trash or checking the mail. It's rare that I go back and look at these obits and to be honest, it's rare that I think of any of the folks I placed there. Except my dad and my Grandma.
Clayton Medeiros
June 6, 2012
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Your comment is great. Are
Your comment is great. Are there poems that could extend from this one. What is the difference between the folks you do look back on and those you do not. What is it about them and about you that leads to looking back and not looking back.
I like "tangible rituals."